Before the sunrise
by Ms. Panda Weasley
Summary: Danielle's background story before she finds her Sunrise -Santana Chapters are short now, and will be getting longer as the story develops.
1. Single

Single

She was my best friend first. We met through a mutual friend and connected deeply in a matter of weeks. When she kissed me the first time at the ice cream parlor, I couldn't stop grinning. When I kissed her in the back of her car, my heart couldn't go any faster. When we were lying in my bed so close together, I understood why I had run away from so many guys before. All that happened before hell broke loose.

I couldn't kiss her anymore, not even once after my mom's yelling started, not once before my father kicked her out of the house, not once before I felt the first hit and blacked out for hours.

When I woke up, the TV could still be heard, my mom was crying, sobbing, saying how this was the deepest pain she's ever felt while my dad was whispering curses about how I was a disgrace to the family. I didn´t need to hear anything else. My guitar didn't break when I fell over it, and there was a suitcase half packed from the weeks at grandma's, so putting everything together was a matter of minutes.

I wanted to find her, and at the same time wanted to run away from all of it, from myself. I dumped my cellphone in the first bus stop, not before writing her name and number on my journal, barely noticing that it was the darkest hour and the sunrise couldn´t be that far behind.

In the luckiest of matters, I had gotten enough sense to open a savings account during last summer´s job. I gave the card to the ticket vendor and bought the train ticket, single, no return.


	2. The city

The city

There was no point in crying, but still couldn´t help it. It gave me an instant headache.

The last rays of sun were cascading down the city. It was beautiful. Golden and blue and orange and every other color showered buildings and streets alike. People walking by, couples hand in hand, the bridges all full of cars, and the heat slowly giving away space for a fresh afternoon. Getting down from the train I had to secure my jacket in place. Dreams of living in the city had been in my mind since I was 12, but never pictured the circumstances to be like this.

Buying a metro ticket was a necessity in this place. Suddenly, a rush surged through me, like the whole city was at the reach of my fingertips, and I knew exactly what my first stop had to be.

It all seemed to run on a rush around me: tourists and taxis, and locals, and vendors; even in broad daylight they had bright big screens and lights around them, in the small alleys there were dozens of posters one on top of another, and I couldn´t help but smile knowing this was the right place. Broadway.


	3. the diner

Diner

In the most secluded corner behind the apparent daily carnival going on in Times Square there was a 24 hour diner. Due to walking around all day, I was starving and decided to walk straight into it. How could you not notice a red dinner that looked like it had been pulled straight out of Grease?

I found my seat in the corner booth and stared at the wide windows with people that kept flashing past, and then at the diversity of clients of the diner. There were three couples: one of them arguing, one of them giggling, and the oldest one just sipping coffee and checking their cellphones.

A twenty-something waitress named Mary approached my table with an attitude. A plain burger and a chocolate milkshake was one of the cheapest meals, so my order was a no brainer. After the meal arrived, there was a sudden diming of lights and music blast. All the waiters instantly became professional dancer coming up and down the bar with ease. Even Mary had an upbeat attitude and amazing performance skills during their rendition of Wicked´s "One short day".

Having nowhere to go, I wanted to extend my stay as much as I could, to the last sip of milkshake, and the last bite of bread. The inevitable check arrived without another word or even a glance from my waiter. After paying and ridiculously under tipping I was about to open the double doors to leave; and then I noticed it, the red sign that was a lifeline extended in the most perfect time: Help Wanted.

I walked right back and asked Mary for the manager. She smiled condescendingly and told me to wait.


End file.
